Tesco apologises to customers over Christmas delivery booking delays
Tesco has been forced to apologise to customers facing delays trying to book a delivery slot for Christmas shopping following a surge in demand.
The supermarket said this morning that it had placed shoppers in a “virtual waiting room” to help it manage the influx of customers trying to secure a home delivery for the festive season.
“A lot of customers are using our website and app at the moment. So we’re temporarily using a virtual waiting room to help us manage the flow,” Tesco said in a statement on Twitter.
“We’re sorry if things take a bit longer than usual.”
Tesco customers took to social media to complain about the delay, with some saying they had already been waiting for hours.
The grocer said “the queue is longer than we would like it to be but it’s due to the sheer volume of traffic”.
Customers were told to keep trying and to “wait for as long as is necessary” without closing or refreshing the page, or risk losing their place and being put to the back of the queue.
Supermarkets have seen a huge spike in demand for online delivery slots during the coronavirus pandemic, with Christmas orders set to pile pressure on capacity.
Online supermarket Ocado, which recently launched a partnership with M&S, does not currently have any slots available over the festive period.